haste
Americannoun
-
swiftness of motion; speed; celerity.
He performed his task with great haste. They felt the need for haste.
- Antonyms:
- sloth
-
urgent need of quick action; a hurry or rush.
to be in haste to get ahead in the world.
-
unnecessarily quick action; thoughtless, rash, or undue speed.
Haste makes waste.
- Synonyms:
- precipitation, precipitancy
verb (used with or without object)
idioms
noun
-
speed, esp in an action; swiftness; rapidity
-
the act of hurrying in a careless or rash manner
-
a necessity for hurrying; urgency
-
to hurry; rush
verb
Usage
What does haste mean? Haste most commonly refers to urgency, such as in completing a task. It can also be used as another word for speed or swiftness, as in We have to move with haste if we want to make it on time. The phrase make haste means to move quickly, hurry up, or rush. Often, haste means urgency or speed that is careless or reckless. This is how the word is used in the expression haste makes waste, which means that rushing things leads to mistakes. The adjective form hasty is most often used in this sense—a hasty decision is one that is thought to have been made too quickly, perhaps leading to negative consequences. The adverb form is hastily. The verb hasten means to go faster or cause to go faster, as in We need to hasten our efforts. Example: In my haste to finish the project, I forgot to put my name on it.
Synonym Usage
See speed.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
hastelessnessnoun
-
hastefuladjective
-
hastelessadjective
-
unhastedadjective
-
unhastingadjective
-
hastefullyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
hastesimple
-
hastessimple
-
have hastedperfect
-
has hastedperfect
-
am hastingprogressive
-
are hastingprogressive
-
is hastingprogressive
-
have been hastingperfect progressive
-
has been hastingperfect progressive
Past
-
hastedsimple
-
had hastedperfect
-
was hastingprogressive
-
were hastingprogressive
-
had been hastingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of haste
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Old French from Germanic; akin to Old Frisian hāste, Old English hæst “violence,” Old Norse heifst “hatred,” Gothic haifsts “quarrel”
Explanation
When something is done in haste, it's done fast, and often with carelessness. In his haste to finish the paper, he didn't notice he had replaced "taste" with "waste" during spell-checking, so his title became "Foods of Our Home State: What a Waste!" The old saying goes "haste makes waste," and when you try to do things too quickly, sometimes you do them wrong or have to do them all over again. You can use the noun haste for things done with extraordinary speed and often in a situation where there's pressure to perform or complete a task. "In her haste to catch the train she ran six blocks, but when she boarded, she noticed she was wearing one blue tennis shoe and one red one."
Vocabulary lists containing haste
List 2
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act III
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"Because I Could Not Stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But like Colletti before him, with Walter having purchased the majority stake in the Lakers, Pelinka is going to have to crash the hourglass and build a winner with haste.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 28, 2026
Still, Browne cautioned against haste even as he urged action.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2026
“Most obituaries are written in haste with the help of a funeral director,” said James R. Hagerty, a longtime obituary writer for the Wall Street Journal.
From MarketWatch ● May 19, 2026
In a statement on Friday, Polanski apologised for "sharing a tweet in haste," adding that he should not have commented on the police response via social media.
From BBC ● May 1, 2026
She made more noise than usual, smashing through the bushes in her haste.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
The battle's o'er, the English arms successful; And Rivers, like an English warrior, hastes To lay his laurels at the feet of beauty.
From The Fatal Falsehood by More, Hannah
She spake; the old dame tottering hastes away.
From The Æneid of Virgil Translated into English Verse by E. Fairfax Taylor by Taylor, Edward Fairfax
She the acquaintances she loves, Her spacious fields and shady groves, Another visit hastes to pay.
From Eugene Oneguine [Onegin] A Romance of Russian Life in Verse by Spalding, Henry
So, borne upon her bow 730 Of myriad hues, unseen, the maiden hastes below.
From The Æneid of Virgil Translated into English Verse by E. Fairfax Taylor by Taylor, Edward Fairfax
Then deeply plunge “Beneath the foaming gush thy head, where full “It spouts its waters; and thy error cleanse, “As clean thy limbs thou washest.”—To the stream The king as bidden hastes.
From The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidus Naso in English blank verse Vols. I & II by Howard, J. J.
A group of Templars hasted to him, seized him and repelled him from me.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and hasted not to go down about a whole day.
From Time Magazine Archive
It stood still in the midst of the heaven and hasted not to go down.
From Time Magazine Archive
She then hasted to the Laird, crying bitterly, and telling him she would not suffer that wretch Merodach, as she called him, to stay another night in the family.
From The Shepherd's Calendar Volume I (of II) by Hogg, James
Old Hildebrand thence hasted, with blood all dabbled o'er, And to the noble Dietrich his sorry tidings bore.
From The Nibelungenlied Revised Edition by Unknown
Fat carrion crows hurried their unwieldy flight and, higher in the air, a frequent lone hawk sailed out of the west, while now and then a road-runner cut across his path with hasting feet.
From The Delafield Affair by Kelly, Florence Finch
The men, lurking beneath the bank, hold their breath; Dennis feels as though his very heart-beats must be heard; but the Spaniards pass, and disappear, and are now hasting up towards the camp.
From With Drake on the Spanish Main by Strang, Herbert
Again she took to flight, hasting along the edge of the stream, up into the heart of the gorge.
From Cudjo's Cave by Trowbridge, J. T. (John Townsend)
And when she had done the deed She swooned, and those her followers hasting back Fell prone upon their knees before the corpse As to a goddess.
From The Epic of Hades In Three Books by Morris, Lewis, Sir
It is compared to the swoop of the eagle hasting to the prey; to the swift post, to the bubble on the river.
From The Iron Furnace Slavery and Secession by Aughey, John H.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
